- Hughes raises asbestos concerns with Council of Canadians, July 2010
The Canada Causes Cancer website says, “Abestos causes cancer and other deadly lung diseases. That’s why asbestos has been banned in 52 nations, including the European Union. Not to mention, the Canadian government removed it from parliament and the Prime Minister’s home. Despite all this, Canada is still a leading exporter of asbestos to developing countries. Stephen Harper should ban it, or put it back in his home. On Monday June 20, the United Nations will vote to place an international ban on asbestos. Prime Minister Stephen Harper stands as an obstacle to this global agreement.”
PETITION: By going to http://www.canadacausescancer.com/, you can sign a petition with this message, “I call on PM Harper to: Institute a just transition program for the 500 remaining asbestos workers and the communities they live in. Join the United Nations in banning the production and exporting of asbestos worldwide. If he doesn’t, he should put it back in his own home.”
DIRECT ACTION: And as noted by CUPE, “This Saturday June 18, get your overalls, tool belt, and hardhat out! We’re re-installing ‘asbestos’ into your local Conservative MPs office and the Prime Minister’s home. It’s part of something we’re calling National Asbestos Delivery Day. We hope to re-install ‘asbestos’ in every riding.” For more information on this non-violent direct action, please go to http://cupe.ca/asbestos/national-asbestos-delivery-day-help.
On April 26 – during the federal election – the National Post reported, “Conservative leader Stephen Harper has declared that Canada will not ban the export of asbestos – despite calls from health groups – because to do so would hurt Canadian industry. …He flatly said his government will not ban the sale of the product, which he preferred to call ‘chrysotile’ instead of asbestos. …He appeared with the Conservative candidate in the riding of Richmond-Arthabaska, which is held by the Bloc Quebecois (the Bloc kept this seat on May 2). It is also adjacent to a riding held by Conservative cabinet minister Christian Paradis (now the Minister of Industry), whose riding includes the town of Thetford Mines, which has the last asbestos mine in Canada.” CTV added that, “Harper spent (April 26) unabashedly boosting the industry, insisting asbestos can be used safely, even as his government’s support has come under fierce criticism at home and abroad.”
Just last week, Postmedia News reported, “The (736-member, directly-elected) European Parliament took shots (on June 8) at Canada over the oilsands industry’s environmental record, ongoing asbestos exports and the sealing industry… (The European Parliament expressed concern about the) serious harm to the health of workers mining asbestos, the processing and use of which is already banned in the EU (since 2005).” Their expression of concern about asbestos is significant because the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement – if signed by January 2012 as Prime Minister Stephen Harper promises – would eventually go to the European Parliament for further debate and a vote on approval or rejection of the deal.
In June 2010, a Public Citizen media release noted that, “European Union parliamentarian Stephen Hughes (United Kingdom) recently tabled an inquiry calling for a WTO challenge of a proposed Canadian subsidy (to the asbestos industry).” In July 2010, the Council of Canadians, members of the Trade Justice Network and European allies met with Mr. Hughes in Brussels where he suggested an export ban on asbestos could be made a condition for completion of the ongoing CETA talks.
